Wednesday, Nov 29, 2017, 3:26 pm

Why Didn’t We Listen to this Guy?: Bernie Sanders on the GOP Tax Plan and Global Oligarchy

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(Image: Mike Lebowski / YouTube)

In a more reasonable world, the American people wouldn’t need Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to travel around the country explaining all of the ways this GOP tax proposal is just another poorly-disguised, donor-funded, corporate charade in which half of Congress is attempting to sell us the same trickle-down deception we’ve already endured for decades—it would be obvious. We are, however, not there yet.

So, in a speech delivered earlier this month (and one of many in recent weeks) Sanders continued his ongoing effort to inform all Americans—“whether one is a progressive, a Democrat, a conservative, a Republican or something in between”—about some very twisted, rapidly-worsening financial realities.

These include:

We are living in a rigged economy.

The three wealthiest Americans—Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett—now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American people.

The top one-tenth of one percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.

40 million Americans are living in poverty.

For the first time in U.S. history, young people are facing a lower standard of living than their parents.

Simultaneously, we remain the only major country in the world today that doesn’t guarantee health care to all of its citizens. (Twenty-eight million Americans currently have zero health insurance and that number might double next year.)

But his speech is also about more than the absurdity of our tax code and partisan dysfunction. It lays out how the same few entities—a handful of tremendously rich individuals, institutions and corporations—are using their consolidated power to manipulate not only in the United States, but around the world.

“One of the great crises that we face,” says Sanders, “is that a handful of billionaires are moving this entireplanet toward an oligarchic society in which the people on top not only have incredible wealth, but incredible political power as well.”

He cites the recently released Paradise Papers: Secrets of the Global Elite, a months-long investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that documents the magnitude of global tax evasion while implicating, among others, the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Carl Ichan and Robert Mercer; institutions such as Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America; corporations such as Apple, Nike and Exxon Mobile and, unsurprisingly, numerous big-shots in the Trump administration.

A few key takeaways from the ICIJ report:

In 2012, the Tax Justice Network estimated that $21 trillion (TRILLION) dollars was being stashed in offshore tax havens around the world.

One five-story office building in the Cayman Islands is now “the home” of 18,857 corporations.

In the United States alone, offshore tax evasion costs our government $166 billion of lost revenue each and every year.

Sanders points out that, as this administration "works overtime to make this absurd situation even worse at a time when corporations are making record-breaking profits,” one out of five major profitable corporations currently pay nothing in federal income tax.

Like he did on the 2016 campaign trail until the DNC brought out its giant hook, Sanders suggests that if these entities did pay their “fair share” of taxes, that money could be used to actually address many of the issues these same billionaires and companies drone on and on pretending to care about—veterans, infrastructure, health care, education, etc. Yet instead, by hoarding money overseas, they’re placing these burdens on a rapidly shrinking middle- and already squeezed working-class.

“This, needless to say, is an issue that does not get a whole lot of discussion,” says Sanders. “Because, in general, the more important the issues are, the less discussion they get within the corporate media or within the political world that we, in Congress, live in.”

"The federal government creates dollars by spending into the private sector."I think you forgot what we were talking about. You made the claim above and I countered with actual logic, and you veered off into counterfeiting. Yes, the government does issue currency. It does not create the dollars, or revenue it spends. It has to collect or borrow to do that. And, actually, our government spends in many different currencies, depending on the situation. That is why we hold vast amounts varying types.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-09 12:17:31

Banks create credit denominated in $US but they can't create the high powered dollars that only government can issue.

Posted by john g on 2017-12-08 05:06:00

Logical fallacy. You've no idea what you're talking about. We are talking about issuing currency. Government spends in $US i.e. currency.

Posted by john g on 2017-12-08 05:04:19

No. It's called revenue. We're not talking about the issuing of currency. That is clearly in the government's wheel house. We're talking about where the government gets the funds to do anything, including buying printing presses to print currency. It's called taxation. If the government created revenue you would drive down the street and see "Government grocery" "Government gas station" , and on and on.Is the concept here really that difficult?

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-08 04:32:43

The top .1% oligarchy unites corporate wealth and federal and state politicians. Tax corporations and banks at 40%+, eliminate loopholes and foreign tax shelters, and give the money to local communities, rural counties and urban neighborhoods, for health care, public education, infrastructure, childcare, whatever they want—economic and political democracy. Pass laws to divorce corporations from politicians—eliminate corporate lobbying and campaign contributions. Bernie's heart is in the right place, but if he doesn't go bold to build a movement across racial, cultural, and geographical lines to crush the neoliberal system, he's going to fail.

Posted by Bruce Shigeura on 2017-12-07 16:40:34

What so taxpayers are creating $US? That's called counterfeiting. The government is the monopoly issuer of $.Clearly you are wrong.

Posted by john g on 2017-12-06 13:05:55

So Rich people just take their money and... what? They just light cigars with it. Is this how it disappears? They don't spend it? They don't invest it? I've worked in wealthy neighborhoods. They spend money. The economy is hurt when the revenue is diverted out of it. Have you looked at the amount of money that is lost through social programs. Only around thirty five cents out of every dollar makes it back into the economy, so the idea that the government taking it helps the economy simply doesn't work.Rich people are going to keep as much of their money as they can. And you know what, so is 90% of every other human being on the planet.It is also not the job of the government to take revenge on rich people just because they are more successful than I am. The government needs to get out of the way. Make real spending cuts. Drive down our tax rate so that companies and individuals will want to put their money here as opposed to somewhere else.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-06 09:40:31

Basic banking information? You mean like...Oh, where does the bank get its funds that it lends? It just creates it in a magic money machine in the basement?

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-06 09:32:07

Where do you think the government gets those dollars? A little thing called taxation. When they spend in the private sector they are simply taking money they've taken from one part of the private sector and moving it to another.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-06 09:30:31

You are misinformed. Money is created when a bank hands out a loan. You should learn some basic banking before making these comments.

Posted by TR on 2017-12-05 14:11:13

The gov't spends the money it receives in revenue. Money doesn't just go to the gov't then disappear like what happens when rich man gets money. You want to see the economy dry up? Don't tax the rich. Oh, you're already seeing that happen now aren't you? Rich people hoard money, the gov't does not. Making rich people richer doesn't increase the amount of money in circulation. A strong economy is defined by the amount of money circulating in the economy. An economy is hurt when you let a few rich people suck up and hoard the money. We have an aching economy right now. Taxing the rich and funding social programs is the only way out. The rich haven't been hiring bunches of people and giving out raises just because they can afford to. The Trickle Down Theory is a lie.

Posted by TR on 2017-12-05 14:09:57

The federal government creates dollars by spending into the private sector. $ are government accounting units.

Posted by john g on 2017-12-04 13:26:43

Oh, please, enlighten me. I so want to be as sophisticated and cultivated as you in financial matters.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-04 10:48:58

Utter drivel

Posted by john g on 2017-12-03 13:31:09

Presidents don't fully control debt. They can influence it through bills they veto, or those they support or propose. No modern President has been able to curtail debt. That is why it is twenty trillion and still climbing, and that is just the public debt. There is a private debt that most of the public is unaware of and I've seen estimates of that from former government accounting firms of around 200 trillion, and that was a few years ago. Bernie, like 90% of career politicians is completely unable to balance the budget because he cannot bring himself to the common sense conclusion that no entity can raise its spending 10% a year and expect anything but disaster. Try raising your household spending 10% every year, regardless of whether you get a raise or not. See how that works out for you. Oh, by the way, P&L is not a duty. It is a report every business has that tells them where their money is coming and going from. I guess you forgot to follow your own advice about sitting down and blah blah blah.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-03 09:22:38

You cannot explain that which you do not understand. Hmm. Still nothing on how I was wrong and more name calling. Brilliant.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-03 09:09:52

Money is not created out of debt. Debt is a by product of spending money you do not have in a promise to pay it later. If a huge number of people suddenly find themselves unable to pay a debt, it can tank portions of an economy. Remember that little thing called the housing meltdown? I don't think that massive amount of debt created more money. Look at Toys r us or Sears holding. Billions in debt and your saying that created money. Meanwhile their employees are waiting to see if they're going to take it in the nuts after the first of the year.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-03 09:08:03

Money comes from someone creating a good or a service and putting it on the market to sell it. Currency was created in order to make the bartering system easier to navigate. Government taxes this income and this is how it is funded. When the government becomes too overbloated, as ours has become, it has to suck more and more resources out of this currency system. The federal government does provide dollars to the private sector - an example is food stamps - but this money still has to be taken out of some other portion of the economy.Is this really difficult to understand?

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-03 09:03:07

He doesn't know or care, I would guess. I hope I'm wrong. All money is created out of debt, so something we should all agree on is that this is a problem. NOTHING changes until we change how money works, and change ourselves.

Posted by joe-god on 2017-12-02 16:35:49

You're a fucking troll, go the fuck away! You Bernie Bashing Bastard!

Posted by Fred James on 2017-12-02 03:44:38

The federal government is not an overhead cost. It's spending provides the private sector's dollars.Where, in your view of the world, do $ come from?

Posted by john g on 2017-12-01 13:03:10

Why didn't 'we' listen to Bernie? First of all, Bernie is a neutered American politician, which means on a good day he should be fedalive to feral hogs. Secondly, listen?. The days are way past listeniing. Unless arms are taken up in a coordinated comprehensive guerilla war against this 100% corrupt, inverted-totalitarian, police-state government, nothing will be taking place but suicide by government!

Posted by Blendy on 2017-12-01 10:27:06

And AI pay no taxes based on what...? OH, ignorance. An artform for which you are obviously a master. Okay. Now, go ahead and call me names because, after all, that is what is easiest and takes the fewest brain cells.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-01 10:21:09

"Taxes don't fund the Federal government and Federal spending is private sector income. " ? I hope this makes sense after you clean out your bong.So the federal government needs to hire more, and spend more? I'm not sure how bloating the government and making it more expensive helps an economy. The more the government sucks out of it, the less money there is for companies to promote their products, which could create a demand and provide more jobs. We also need to remove burdens from employers, such as this crazy idea that they have to provide insurance.You are right about subsidizing wealthy corporations. We should not be doing that. But the bigger government is, the more it will happen. Look what President Obama did. Provided billions to money bundlers who were involved in failing investments. Once those billions got in their pockets, what did they do? Shutter the doors and walk away wealthy.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-01 10:19:04

He was not trying to do something. He was simply using his platform to criticize the wealthy. He proposed nothing. This is simply worthless rhetoric. So once again you throw out name calling that make no sense, and cannot tell me where I was wrong.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-12-01 10:12:06

Brutatowski : There's no truth to your statements. The only people that are completely unfit for P&L duty are republicans. Not one republican president has actually managed to curtail national debt. Only democrats. But that's only because we never had an independent as a president.

Bernie is not a democrat (not truly anyway). It makes him uniquely capable of actually balancing the budget and uniquely capable of doing the right thing.

NExt time, just sit down and shut up when you don't know what you're talking about.

Posted by Mac Bain on 2017-12-01 09:23:22

That's another possibility. Either way, he should take his head from his rectum before commenting.

Posted by Fred James on 2017-11-29 20:05:33

I doubt it. I think he's one of those 'temporarily indisposed' millionaires that America has in abundance. They worship the rich and hate the poor.

Posted by john g on 2017-11-29 19:50:53

You're talking to (judging by his tripe) one of the 0.001%, paying little to no taxes and wanting to keep it that way. IMO.

Posted by Fred James on 2017-11-29 19:48:16

Like your other dribble, ...... you're right, .... meaningless.You piss and moan about Sanders not elaborating on solutions, just demonizing the wealthy. You don't have a clue either, except for bashing him for at least trying something, while you do absolutely nothing not even what you call useless talking to the corporations. Take your Bernie bashing crap down the road.

Posted by Fred James on 2017-11-29 19:34:11

Taxes don't fund the Federal government and Federal spending is private sector income. So, you're clueless yourself.Employers hire when there is a demand for their products. To lift demand people have to spend more. That means the Federal government needs to start employing people and spending into where it is needed. At the bottom.Subsidising already cash rich corporations is a fool's errand.As for class war, neoliberalism IS class war, buddy. Class war waged by the rich on the rest of us.

Posted by john g on 2017-11-29 16:58:21

Lets see, I'm a "freaking Conservative troll" and I "pay nothing and want it to stay that way?" Not sure what it is I'm not paying. It would be interesting to know what in the heck that even means, though judging by the fact that you choose to simply call me names instead of explaining what I got wrong, tells me that an explanation would be vacuous and meaningless.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-11-29 11:23:34

You're freaking Conservative troll! People like you are the reason this country is in the shape it's in,..... you pay nothing and want it to stay that way. Take your tripe down the road. We're tired of hearing your BS!

Posted by Fred James on 2017-11-29 09:19:04

Thank-you Senator Sanders for continuing to place the American public and our nation as your primary focus throughout your career as our representative in our government. The corrupt politicians who constantly strive to undermine democracy while tirelessly seeking only their personal enrichment and the pursuit of deviant personal gratification in the stead of their sworn duties to a constitution they neither understand nor respect, are a problem that you are showing us how hold to account for their personal misdeeds and civil crimes. It is too bad we don't have thousands more like you keeping America focused on helping and strengthening communities throughout this great nation. God willing and through the perseverance of tens of millions of us who were awoken by the national events of the last few years, there soon will be thousands more like you elected to offices all around this nation as our revolution takes hold and expands to help America achieve the greatness our nation has aspired to since its founding but failed to achieve because of small-minded, petty spirited people of a greedy and selfish nature. The memorials we will erect to your memory will be built out of the blood, sweat and tears we shed to rebuild and enhance this nation as we strive to become once again the nation which assists, embraces, and inspires the rest of the world to follow the path we carve, rather being burdened with the international rejection and derision we deservedly engender currently.

Posted by Trakar on 2017-11-28 20:07:18

There's very good reason we didn't listen to Bernie. He's a guy who has been devoid of a real job for most of his life and wouldn't be able to read a p&l statement at gunpoint. If he's so concerned about funding the government he could start by proposing that everyone on the hill take a ten percent decrease in salary and tie it to the national average of non-government workers, meaning that if we don't get a raise, neither do they. He could propose some real spending cuts - not these idiotic cuts in the increase. If he needs some ideas on where to cut, he could just google waste book. If, in fact, he knows how to use google. Part of the reason so many live in poverty is that we have this monster of big government whose appetite only increases. We also have no incentives for employers to offer full time positions. He should go through each and every regulation heaped on to employers and see which we could get rid of. Instead of going to speak to employers about what would encourage them to hire more - because, lets face it, that would be too much like having a real job and coming up with a real solution - he stands on the floor of the Senate and blathers with this class warfare nonsense. This is why we don't listen to him. He has no solution, other than to demonize the wealthy.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2017-11-28 17:10:18

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